Laundry bag holding means



June 1934- w. F. KRUSCHWITZ LAUNDRY BAG HOLDING MEANS Filed Jan. 10,1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l R. Y. w m .E M W. U m 4 June 12, 1934. w E usc w z1,962,661

. LAUNDRY BAG HOLDING MEANS Filed Jan. 10. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Patented June 12, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 9 Claims.

This invention relates to devices for handling bags in the processes offilling and moving and more particularly to the handling of bags used inlaundry plants and the processes of handling the soiled and washedclothing.

In such laundries there are several systems, but this invention hasspecial reference to the handling of goods which when received from eachcustomer are sorted according to the kind,

each kind for each customer being placed in a separate compartment of awashing machine during the washing operation.

Such washing machines are generally cylindrical and are divided radiallyand axially. One type which I shall use for illustration is divided intothree longitudinal sections by three radial partitions and each of theselongitudinal sections is divided into eight lateral sections each ofwhich has a door on the outside.

Each of these sections is to receive a certain amount of clothes orother material to be washed.

The washing operation may take one hour and at the end of that time, thetwenty-four compartments must be emptied and the material taken to thenext machine, which may be an extractor to extract the water, and thesetwentyfour compartments must then be filled with another lot of soiledmaterial so that the washing can be repeated.

The emptying and refilling should be made as simple as possible so thatlittle time will be wasted and the processes should be so balanced thatthe amount of wasted time and effort will be reduced to a minimum.

Broadly speaking my proces consists of using 2 trucks each with 4 bagholders all of such size and location that the 2 trucks can be pushed upto the washing machine, the compartment doors opened and eachcompartment emptied into a bag after which the trucks are moved away andthe filled bags pinned and tagged and put in extractors by one man orcrew during which time another man or crew is refilling the 8 emptycompartments with soiled clothing. The cylinder of the washing machineis then turned to the next lot of 8 compartments, the trucks are movedup again with new empty bags which are filled and the process isrepeated.

I prefer to use trucks with four or any larger even number of sectionsseparated by parallel bag holding brackets, or other finger supportingmeans for sets of four bag holding fingers. The front and top of eachsection is preferably open and the fingers are arranged in sets orgroups of four, each finger being at the corner of a rectangle and eachsticking up above its supporting means, preferably sloping outward, andpreferably spring pressed and stopped so as to slope outward.

My bag holding means may be used however on a stationary fixed frame,and I may use sets including any number of fingers either spring pressedor fixed.

The particular advantages of my construction are that when my bagsupporting means are used on a truck, as the bag supporting fingersslope up and out, the truck can be pushed up close to the compartmentdoor of a washing machine cylinder and because the bag supporting meansare only a number of, preferably four, upwardly extending fingers, notonly can empty bags be put in place instantly but full bags can beremoved with great speed. Besides this, there is no danger of the bagsslipping although nothing like pinching jaws are required.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a cylindrical washingmachine some of the doors and compartments being shown as open and someas closed and one truck being shown in full lines up in position withpart broken away to show the construction and another truck being shownin outline by dotted lines.

Fig. 2 a vertical sectional elevation substantially on the line 22 ofFig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow from the left.

Fig. 3 isa plan view of a truck on a larger scale showing the bag coversand showing one bag in position and with the other bag holding fingersfree.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective showing in detail my preferredconstruction of a finger support, the fingers carried by it and thesupporting stand for a cover pivot.

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation on an enlarged scale as viewed from theleft on line 55 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged elevation as from the back or interior of an endfinger attached to one of the sides of the truck.

Fig. 7 is 'a view from the left of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic plan view of a circular finger support withthree fingers.

In the drawings A represents the fioor on which is permanently placedthe cylindrical washing machine B of a well known type.

This is divided from end to end into three segmental compartments 1, 2,and 3 and each of these is divided into eight individual compartmentsindicated by 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18.

Each of these compartments has a suitable individual door 111, 112, 113,114, 115, 116, 117, 118.

There may be other outside doors such as indicated by 8. The wholecylinder 9 is shown as revoluble with a shaft 7, all of the usualconstruction.

6 represents a motor which may be of the electric type which furnishespower.

- pivot and the axis of the The principal feature of my device is themovable truck C which as shown has the fioor 33 supported by suitablerollers 34-34, the back 32 and sides 30-31.

The top and what I will call the front are preferably open.

This truck 0 is of such size that it will extend in front of fourcompartments such as 11, 12, 13, 1e and preferably is divided into fourparts as by means of the three brackets which include a horizontal arm20 and a diagonal arm 21 suitably fastened to the back 32 and extendingup and almost to the open front.

Each of these brackets carries at its front and at its back a fingersupport D.

Preferably each support D is carried by a threaded stud 24 shown asscrewed into a coupling such as 124 on each end of an arm 20.

Each back support has a downwardly projecting arm 22 which has a screwhole 23 through which passes a screw 123 whereby the top of thesupporting bracket arm 20 is fastened.

This arm 22 is preferably omitted from the front finger support D.

Each finger support D has a finger stop 25 and a bearing 29 for ahorizontal pivot 59 shown as part of a finger F.

Each finger F preferably has a rounded tip which projects slightlyoutward at its upper free end and the stop 25 is in such position that aspring such as 60 which is shown as being looped at 61 around post 44and thence as coiled at 62 around the shank 28 thence up and back andthen around at 163 where it enters a hole such as 57 on the inner sideof a finger F will tend to press the finger tips outward.

Each finger, therefore, slopes upward, and outward and its tip is freeand movable in a vertical plane inward.

Each finger is much longer than its thick-. ness measured from front toback in said vertical plane and there is nothing except 163 along itsupwardly and outwardly sloping inside face.

When the top 80 of a fiexible bag such as K is turned over the tip of afinger and the bag is dropped, its material will lie along said insideface and the pull of the weight of the bag or its contents will beparallel with and close to a radial line drawn through the centre of thefinger.

This pull when the bag hangs free is almost on dead centre and thereforesmall. The pressure of the four springs, such as 60 on the fingers willtherefore sustain a very substantial weight in the bag, but each fingercan readily be released by pulling its tip inward at a tangenthorizontally.

The result of this construction is that the tips 50-50 of the fingersF-F are normally pressed away from the inside of the truck. I willdescribe this as being normally spring pressed and stopped so as toslope outward By outward is meant towards the front or back of the truckor frame.

At each end 30 and 31 the finger supports D are carried in a slightlydifferent way.

Each is supported by a plate such as through which are the bolt holes'71 for the bolts 72.

Each finger F of the ends is the same as the others being pivoted in aholder D similar to the others except that it is made integral with aplate '70.

It has a suitable stop 25 and the finger spring 160, at one end is bentand bears against the top of plate 70 while it is coiled at 162 aroundthe finger support D and thence extends up and around at 163 where itenters a suitable hole 57 in the back of finger F.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 5 with this construction I can hang two or moreempty bags such as K2, K3 on the two back fingers of each compartmentand at the same time can spread the mouth of a bag K1 which is to befilled over these two bag fingers as well as the front fingers therebyleaving the back open and in position to be filled, while the two otherbags are in reserve.

The top or mouth of each bag is turned over and around the tip of eachfinger as shown in Fig. 7 and the bag is held firmly in place.

The parallel finger supporting means are the sides 80, 31, brackets 20,21 and the finger supports D, D.

When putting a bag in place, it is bent over the two fingers farthestaway from the operator and the bag mouth is pulled towards him, to theposition shown in Fig. 7 at the right, until the opposite edge of themouth can be bent over the two fingers nearest the operator. Whenreleased, all four fingers spring outward to a position nearly normalshown in Fig. 5, adjusting themselves to the size and elasticity of thebag.

.In releasing each bag, the process is reversed and as the pull is at atangent to the are made by the tips 50, 50, little force is required.The tips 50 preferably bend or curve and project a little outward,sothat when the fingers resume their normal upward and outward slope, asshown at the left in Figs. 4, 5 and '7, the weight of the bag pullstowards the pivot, almost if not quite on dead center or beyond, and thefingers therefore do not tend to yield or pivot inward. Each bag istherefore firmly held while being filled, but can quickly and easily beput in place or removed by pulling the mouth horizontally or tangentallyinward so that each tip 50 points upward or inward when the bent overpart of the mouth slips off.

The open front between the fingers F, F at the free ends of arms 26, 2epermit the filled bags to be slid off the truck instead of being liftedup.

With the construction of my resilient or spring pressed fingers, bags ofdifferent sizes at the mouth can be used on the same set of fingers andthe position of the fingers, especially those at the front, slopingoutward allows the truck to. be pushed up very close to the washingmachine B as shown in Fig. 2 thus carrying one edge of the bag so closeto the opening of a cornpartment that there is very little opportunityfor anything to slip down between the bag and the cylinder.

This is important because if only a single small article drops on thefloor it is likely to become soiled and cause a great deal of troublebefore it is again clean and replaced with the other articles of thesame customer.

I may use a small board such as M shown in Fig. 2 to bridge the gap andprevent the possibility of such a loss.

In order to prevent articles from any par ticular compartment in thewashing machine from accidentally getting into the wrong bag, I preferto use the pivoted covers G, G, each provided with pivot pins such as 46which enter the pivot sockets 45 in the standards 44 which are providedbetween the first and sec- 0nd and third and fourth sections as shown inFig. 1.

These covers G are imperforate and can be instantly swung over from thefirst or third compartments to the second or fourth and thence backagain so that while emptying any particular compartment of the washingmachine, the mouth of each bag adjoining the one being filled is coveredand any mixing of the goods is, therefore, avoided.

In Fig. 8, I show a circular finger support 81 which supports the threefingers F, F, F whereby the mouth of a bag such as K is held open intriangular form as shown.

It is obvious that I can use various other types of finger supports andcan use any number of fingers of my design from three to four and moreif it is desired so to do.

It is also obvious that my finger supports and fingers either on amovable truck or an immovable rack can be used for holding open themouths of various types of bags such, for instance, as mail bags,provided the bag is of such material that the rim of the mouth can beturned outward and over the tips of the fingers.

The members 60 and 160, instead of being springs may be rigid, and thefingers F, F may stand up straight as shown in Fig. 8, instead ofsloping outward.

I claim to be the first to provide bag holding means including a frameand finger supporting means forming part thereof or attached thereto,together with bag holding fingers, either rigid or resilient, whichextend up at any angle from the finger supporting means. Morespecifically I claim to be the first to provide upwardly and outwardlysloping, spring-pressed fingers with upper ends free to move in avertical plane and still more specifically, I claim to be the first toarrange such fingers on a rectangular frame particularly a truck framein rectangular formation, the rectangles being positioned side by side.

I claim:

1. The combination with a movable truck; of a plurality of fingersupports alined and spaced sideways on and carried by said truck; aplurality of sets of four bag holding fingers the two fingers on eachside being pivoted at the bottom to a finger support, each finger beingspring pressed and stopped so as to normally slope upward and outward;together with a cover so pivoted to finger supports that it can move ina half circle sideways to cover sets of fingers on either side.

2. The combination with a movable truck; of a plurality of fingersupports alined and spaced sideways on and carried by said truck; and aplurality of sets of four bag holding fingers the two fingers on eachside being pivoted at the bottom on a horizontal pivot to a fingersupport, each finger being much longer than its thickness and beingspring pressed and stopped near its pivot so that it normally slopesupward and outward and its tip is free and movable in a vertical planeinward there being no obstruction between the inside faces of eachfinger and its pivot and the inside faces of the opposite finger and itspivot.

3. The combination with a frame; of a plurality of finger supportsalined and spaced sideways on and carried by said frame; and a pluralityof sets of four bag holding fingers the two fingers on each side beingpivoted at the bottom on a horizontal pivot to a finger support, eachfinger being much longer than its thickness and being spring pressed andstopped near its pivot so that it normally slopes upward and outward andits tip is free and movable in a vertical plane inward there being noobstruction between the inside faces of each finger and its pivot andthe inside faces of the opposite finger and its pivot.

4. In a bag holding device, the combination of finger supporting means;with a plurality of bag holding fingers each pivoted at the bottom on ahorizontal pivot to a finger support and each finger being much longerthan its thickness and being spring pressed and stopped near its pivotso that it normally slopes upward and outward and its tip is free andmovable in a vertical plane inward there being no obstruction betweenthe inside faces of each finger and its pivot and the inside faces ofthe opposite finger and its pivot.

5. In a bag holding device, the combination of finger supporting means;with a plurality of bag holding fingers each pivoted at its bottom on ahorizontal pivot to a finger support and each finger being much longerthan its thickness and being spring pressed and stopped near its pivotso that it normally slopes upward and outward and its tip is free andmovable in a vertical plane inward there being no obstruction betweenthe inside faces of each finger and its pivot and the inside faces ofthe opposite finger and its pivot.

6. The combination with a supporting frame; of a plurality of parallelfinger supporting means which extend from back to front of and arecarried by said frame; and a plurality of sets of four bag holdingfingers which extend up from said finger supporting means; together witha cover so pivoted at front and back of one side edge to finger supportsthat it can swing in a half circle sideways to cover part of the spacebetween one or the other of adjoining sets of fingers.

7. The combination with a supporting frame; of a plurality of parallelfinger supporting means which extend from back to front of and arecarried by said frame; and a plurality of sets of four bag holdingfingers which normally extend up free from said finger supporting meansthere being no obstruction between the inside faces of each finger andits pivot and the inside faces of the opposite finger and its pivot.

8. The combination with a movable truck; of finger supporting meanscarried by said truck; and a plurality of bag holding fingers whichnormally extend up free from said finger supporting means there being noobstruction between the inside faces of each finger and its pivot andthe inside faces of the opposite finger and its pivot.

9. In a bag holding device, the combination of finger supporting means;with a plurality of bag holding fingers each pivoted at the bottom on ahorizontal pivot to a finger support and each finger being much longerthan its thickness and being spring pressed and stopped near its pivotso that it normally slopes upward and outward and its tip is free andmovable in a vertical plane inward such tip extending slightly outwardfrom the body of the finger there being no obstruction between theinside faces of each finger and its pivot and the inside faces of theopposite finger and its pivot.

WILLIAM FREDRICK KRUSCHWITZ.

